On May 21, 2014 the «round table» on refugee legislation issues organized by INA «Evolutio» and the Journal «Belaruskaya Dumka» with the support of UNHCR was held on the Faculty of International Relations of BSU.
Jean Yves Bouchardy, UNHCR Representative in the Republic of Belarus, Dmitry Shevtsov, Member of the Standing Commission on Health, Physical Culture, Family and Youth Policy of the House of Representatives of the National Assembly of the Republic of Belarus, Alexey Begun, Head of Department on Citizenship and Migration of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Republic of Belarus, Victor Shadurski, Dean of the Faculty of International Relations of BSU, Vladimir Kravchenko, Chairman, project manager of joint UNHCR-PA «Belarusian Movement of Medical Workers» and Refugee Counseling Service, Timofey Solodkov, Legal Adviser of the UNHCR Office in the Republic of Belarus, Daud Amiri, Chairman of the Board of the Foundation of Forced Migrants «Integration-A», Andrey Selivanov, Executive Director of INA «Evolutio» participated in the event. The "round table" was conducted by Vadim Gigin, Chief Editor of the Socio-Political and Scientific Journal «Belaruskaya Dumka».
During the meeting a number of issues relating to the situation with refugees in Belarus and foreigners in general, tolerance and intolerance between foreigners and the local population were discussed.
Much attention was paid to the discussion of the current refugee legislation of the Republic of Belarus and possibilities of its improvement. The issues of refugees’ integration into the host society as well as the activities held in our country for promotion of adaptation of this group of population were discussed. The aspect of the public awareness raising on the issues of refugees, migration, intercultural relations where the issue of the distinguishing different categories such as refugees, migrants, foreign citizens was the key point, was considered. Formation of tolerant attitude towards representatives of other country was also among the covered topics.
The discussion ended enthusiastically. The participants discussed current events on a global arena and their potential impact on the situation with refugees in Belarus.
You can read more information about the «round table» in the June issue of the Journal «Belaruskaya Dumka».